Course
HU2633-R01: Fundamentals of Digital Imaging Teaching
Photography
This digital imaging course introduces students to manual camera control, image analysis, Photoshop and Lightroom practice, and photographic series development. This page centers on the final project, where students build a unified series of images around a theme, intent, and editing approach.
Institution
Michigan Technological UniversityLevel
Introductory digital imagingPrimary tools
DSLR or mirrorless cameras, Photoshop, Lightroom, BridgeCourse logic
Camera decisions become a visual series.
The course connects technical camera control, Photoshop practice, image analysis, and critique. Students learn to make photographs that can stand alone while also contributing to a larger visual sequence.
Camera and Editing
Students develop manual camera control and Photoshop practice as connected ways to make, manipulate, and present digital images.
Image Analysis
Readings, blog posts, and critiques ask students to analyze how images work and how digital imaging affects contemporary visual culture.
Series and Intent
The final project asks students to connect eight images through theme, unity, composition, and editing decisions that feel intentional.
Assignment sequence
A final series built around intent.
The final project is the anchor for this page. Students propose a direction, test early images, revise through critique, and finish with eight connected photographs plus two printed images for presentation.
01
Eight images, theme, unity, print
Final Series
Students create a final series of eight photographs with a noticeable intent that links the images together. The process includes a written plan, image critique checkpoints, final digital uploads, and two printed framed images for presentation.
Selected outcomes
Methods
How image sequences get stronger.
The course uses technical exercises, written reflection, image critiques, and staged deadlines to help students refine both the photographs and the idea holding them together.
Manual Control
Camera settings, lenses, lighting, and image capture are introduced as choices that can support the concept of the final photographic series.
Editing as Intent
Photoshop practice develops from basic manipulation into more complex techniques so editing decisions can reinforce the image sequence.
Critique Milestones
Written plans, two-image critiques, and final presentations keep students moving from a broad idea toward a unified photographic body of work.